The cold open goes right into the encore again. I don't know why I'm so attached to Len introducing the encore. You'd think I could let that go. And yet, here I am, harping on it again. Anyway, the encore is the group dance. I like it better this time, since I can tell who is which dancer. Shawn changes her solo up a little bit and does a handstand on the platform and kicks her legs around. The couple's solo moves seem less jerky tonight, probably because they're not as nervous, having done it all once before. Shawn looks like she's actually enjoying herself out there. Gilles and Derek are both way into this routine. LT... not so much. He seems to do better than he did last night, though. In that, he's actually doing the moves.
Last night, LT had a wonderful waltz, even though he slipped. Ty also had a waltz, and got better marks than the few weeks. Lil Kim got marked lower for not being herself in her rumba. Chuck wowed the judges with his samba. The judges also liked Gilles' waltz. Shawn got her first ten for her cha cha. Melissa fought through the pain of a rib injury and got the top score of the night.
Even in this jam-packed results show, there's time for a clip package about the physical impact dancing can have on the human body. Starring Sanjay Gupta! Remember when he was going to be the Surgeon General? And now he's on this show. Hmm. Kind of a step down. Gupta explains all of the ways in which dancing is different from any other athletic endeavor, and how the movements are new to the celebrities, even if they are star athletes. A nutritionist comes on and explains how many calories Lil Kim burns in rehearsals, and offers up the factoid that she could eat six pints of ice cream per week and not gain a pound. Of course, she would drop dead because her arteries would be clogged, but what a beautiful corpse! Someone bigger, like Lawrence, is burning 15,000 calories per week, which is the equivalent of eating thirty-three hamburgers. Now we get to hear from an orthopedic surgeon, who talks about the stress dancing puts on your joints and frame. Like we didn't already know that from all of the injuries this season and every season.
Natasha Bedingfield is in the house to sing her new single. Dmitry and Lacey come out to do a quite sexy routine with a lot of cool lifts. The people on the forums will be very disappointed since they are rooting for a relationship between Dmitry and Chelsie. I always like seeing the eliminated dancers come back, because I know it means they get paid for another week. Otherwise, their pay ends when the dancing does. Anyway, the song doesn't really do it for me, but the routine is nice enough.
I just realized that we're halfway through the results show and we've seen no results yet. And we won't for a little bit, because first we're going to watch some international ballroom champions from the upcoming show Burn the Floor. I don't really get the deal with this group. Especially because one of the dudes is wearing pants with no shirt and suspenders. That is bad times. Plus that dude keeps looking at the camera and mugging, and I really hate that. I don't know who that dude is, but I don't like it. Anyway, the routine is pretty boring to me. They're great dancers, don't get me wrong. When there's no stakes, ballroom dancing is kind of boring to me.
Backstage, Samantha is talking to Chuck and Julianne. Chuck jokes that it took red satin pajamas for him to tie Gilles. Julianne adds that they just went out and had fun, which might have made the difference. Then Samantha talks to Ty and Chelsie about week's team dance, where one team will be doing the tango and the other will be doing the mambo. Ty doesn't know which dance he wants to do, but he wants to dance with Chelsie. She picks the tango, if she has to choose.
Everyone runs back out to the stage to find out who is safe. Tom says he'll announce three couples that will definitely be returning. The first is Chuck and Julianne. The second is Melissa and Tony. The third is Shawn and Mark. So there are four couples still in jeopardy.
The producers are trying something new this season: there will be a bunch of people competing to be the new pro season. Do they need new pros? Why not bring back some of the ones? I guess it's better than just importing people from SYTYCD. Anyway, you can vote for these people. The judges will be commenting, but not scoring them, so it's all up to the viewers at home. The first couple to dance tonight is Afton DelGrosso, younger sister to Ashly (who I will always remember as Joey McIntyre's partner). Brent Borbon is her partner, and they have worked together before, so they're psyched. They'll be doing the cha cha cha this week. It's interesting to see two dancers rehearsing together, because there's less teaching and more negotiating the choreography, since they are really competing against each other.
So their cha cha begins. Neither of them is really setting me on fire. They're technically qualified, but they're not jumping off the screen, which is what I enjoy about my favorite pros, like Maks or Derek or Julianne. Len thought Afton showed a little more flair. Bruno pays tribute to Afton's dancing family and her technique, and he thinks Brent is fresh and different. Carrie Ann thinks Brent pops on the screen, but he has to be careful about his technique. She thinks Afton is beautiful to watch. Backstage, Samantha asks them nonsense questions and they give boring answers. I think I'll reserve judgment until I see a few more.
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The to compete are Anna Demidova, who is the current US National Ballroom Champion, and she's very Russian. Her partner is Mayo Alanen, who is a little weird looking. He looks like he's carved out of wax. They'll be doing the waltz together. They're friends, but they've never danced together. As their waltz begins, Anna has a lot of diamond jewelry on. I think she borrowed a diamond headdress from that one singer in the band who always wears sparkly head gear. I don't like Mayo. He reminds me of Crispin Glover in Charlie's Angels. Creepy. I could get behind Anna though, although don't we already have a Russian Anna spitfire on the show? Does this mean she's not coming back? Anyway, Anna is the only one who's shown much personality so far. You can't really judge their dances, because they're all really awesome.
Carrie Ann thinks it was beautiful. She likes Mayo's "distinguished character" and Anna's understated star quality. Len loved the whole routine; he thinks they did well because they're tall, but would love to see their Latin. Bruno thought it was classic, and loved Mayo's elegant lines. He says something to Anna that I don't understand. Maybe that she's dazzling? Or that she used a bedazzler? Backstage, Anna is all sweet, and I wish she'd be as spunky as she was in her opening package. Mayo is still made of wax.
The couple is Snow Urbin, who's done music videos and whatnot. I'm kind of against her already because her name is Snow. Her partner is Genya Mazo, Alec's brother. In rehearsals, Snow and Genya tangle a little bit because they both have strong ideas about the routine. Okay, so turns out I still hate Snow but I kind of dig Genya. I don't know if it's the Alec connection or what. Bruno says he's a strong performer with good technique, and he enhances his partner, which is really important on this show. Bruno tells Snow that she's hot like fire. Carrie Ann loves that Genya was really supportive of his partner too. Len thought Genya looked really masculine and Snow had passion and romance. Backstage, Genya jokes that he got hit in the mouth by Snow during the routine, and it was kind of like their rehearsals. He's joking, but I think they really don't like each other. Just a vibe. So by the time you read this, voting will be over, but two will be eliminated week. I kind of dig this competition, although I don't think we know enough about any of them to judge who would be a good pro; they should have to teach a beginner how to do a dance or something.
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So now Celtic Woman is performing. It's four white chicks in ball gowns singing "You Raise Me Up" while some professional dancers do a routine. This is so in this show's demographic. Carmela Soprano would totally love this routine. Me? I'm kind of bored. Ooh. The whole choir kicked in. Now I'm a little more into it. They do have really beautiful voices, and the dancers are doing some amazing tricks, although it just got a little bit Dance Fever up in there. I remember when I used to watch that show as a kid and my mom would always go, "They're not even dancing! That's just gymnastics!" So that's how I feel about that routine.
It's finally time for some more results. Samantha is careful to say that these results are in no particular order. The couple that is safe is Lil Kim and Derek. I must be rooting for them more than I thought, because I felt relief. Joining them are Gilles and Cheryl. That means either LT or Ty is going home, although Tom is careful to say that they are not necessarily the bottom two. So who's going home? Lawrence and Edyta. Well, no shocker there, and I think he was about done with the competition anyway. LT is really happy and Tom accuses him of being happy to get the heck out of there. He doesn't deny it, but has nice things to say about Edyta. She says nice things about him too, but I doubt she means it. LT starts talking about how soon he'll be out there golfing and it's over. Phew! His lack of desire to be there was getting a little uncomfortable.
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